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Deeds of Zaeed
Zaeed is involved in a number of events occurred shortly after the recovery of the force artifact, but before the team was fully re-engaged by the Alliance: Approximately a month of time. Belly of the Beast The team is deep within the Hutt fortress, having fought their way down through many layers of defense, they've finally capture a relic and some prisoners. The defenses of the final vault include a poison that was narrowly defeated. Zaeed and the team escape the palace. The deed was done: the team has escaped capture, found - and, Zaeed smiles, disarmed a Jedi soldier, captured a Tie-Marine, a Jensaarai imposter, and recovered a force artifact of considerable interest to all the important parties in the galaxy. Not bad, Zaeed thought - next time I'll do it in armour. On the lowest levels of the Hutt vault-fortress its force inhibiting security systems disabled, Zaeed flexed his scarred tired arms, feeling the rush of force energy quickly negating whatever noxious compounds that moments ago nearly killed the team. Zaeed's body considerably reinforced with force energy is continually rejuvenated, while making him immune to toxins, disease, radiation and poison, also, Zaeed reflected, made him immune to drinking. That's when Zaeed noticed the pain, the shredded remnants of clothing all but gone, nothing but the embedded dermal armour still protected his vitals: an ugly merging of flesh and metal that gave him a ghastly appearance, fused scar tissue and ugly rents of pink swollen flesh surrounded each segmented dermal implant, all scratched and scored with damage, rudely implanted around his body, it wasn't perfect or pretty but it did the job, all that Zaeed asked of it - and thanked Min for installing; a force trance revealed the extensive damage taken: blaster burns, shrapnel, blisters, significant blood loss, and a collection of cracked ribs and bruises, serious, if not critical damage. Drawing on his rejuvenating connection to the force, Zaeed healed; a lifesaving bond that helped him survive when he would have otherwise succumbed to his injuries or foolishness - or both, when he use to drink. With a brief flare and surge of force energy Zaeed was made whole and unbroken: a feat that Zaeed could not perform frequently and had indeed called upon too much of late, the flow of force energy fell away from him into a residual state - enough energy remained to feed his recuperative powers, but for a time, spontaneous healing was beyond him. Only a moment had passed, but Zaeed was once again ready for war. Zaeed surveyed the combat readiness of the team while sparing himself a moment to regret he didn't have a chance to take full advantage of the force negating effects of this vault by not bringing something to drink with him; Ah well, things can't be perfect. With a scowl Zaeed confirmed his suspicions; the poison still had considerable effect - perhaps even dire consequences for the team. It was time to leave. With the prisoners in tow and the questionable reliability of their erstwhile Imperial allies, the team gathered itself together to fight their way out. The damage to Odama's palace was a sign of weakness, a weakness his foes leapt upon. As the battered team made their way out of the vault and to the surface facilities it became increasingly obvious that the palace was under attack: When rival Hutt forces weren't actively trying to invade the palace and seize it for themselves they were busy fending off the advances from other competing Hutt interests also engaged in the assault, and the increasingly feeble defensive response of Odama's forces to repel the invaders. Fortune or perhaps some undo influence of the force artifact allowed the team to link-up with the forces of Kunis the Hutt the on their way out, allowing them the luxury of recovering their missing equipment, and to quietly arranged transport off-planet. Transport to the cruiser The team having escaped the palace and into the arms of an ally, make some hasty personal arrangements and passage aboard a vessel to return them to their cruiser within the Nar Shadda system. The team, being medically purged of the toxins is subdued for the voyage, giving Zaeed some freedom to pursue his interests. Zaeed attempts an interrogation. The tramp freighter, mostly automated, provided by Kunis was dubious in quality but it provided the clandestine and unobtrusive qualities to leave Nar Shadda undetected and the medical facilities required by the team. The medical droid, if it could be trusted, the effects of the poison would be viable for sometime, but everyone should be 'working with operational perimeters' within a week, perhaps sooner, giving Zaeed little time to make some important choices. The team were in a collection of cots in the squalid, if anti-septic, cargo bay the only single room large enough to accommodate so many prone passengers: the medical equipment and supplies, droid and the generator that powered everything were all provided in their original shipping containers by Kunis, perhaps feeling generous, considering the consider gains enjoyed on Nar Shadda. Zaeed, having been on Nar Shadda and apparently enjoying the gratitude of an extremely content Hutt took full and professional advantage of his situation to enjoy the quality of the greased gears it provided to acquire a relic lightsabre and an interesting collection of equipment for himself and whatever requests his companions made. Both the Tie-Marine and, if it were possible, a genuine Jensaarai were restrained and held under deep sedation - for safety a lethal injector independently powered and remotely operated subtlety installed: Something Zaeed requested and Kunis's medical techs seemed all too familiar implanting. Zaeed, comfortably within the embrace of his attuned armoured skin, surveyed his acquisitions smugly: the empty cartons, spare components and wires, expensive injection-moulded casings and the collection of installation tools lay scattered about the floor, and his new toys laid out prettily before him. Zaeed checked his new gear and took a moment to stare at the genuine Jensaarai armour, the only suit beyond his own he had seen in a lifetime, the only suit he had seen since Tyris and the confrontation that never happened. The suit was indeed genuine, Zaeed had inspected the craftsmanship and engraving with a critical eye and detected an aura of attunement connecting it to the pretty young woman who previously wore it: a surprise in of itself and complications of its own. Zaeed had ended the sedative to the apparent Jensaarai, or rather, the medical droid had, and informed him that she was -despite her efforts to be appearing otherwise, quite awake as it departed to return to tending to his comrades. Zaeed had moved her away from the team and into a barely lit, sealed airlock, a button press away from cold vacuum. Zaeed took no chances, his environmental and low-light systems fully engaged and any useful weapons concealed within his armour. Zaeed felt his dark connection to the force and pulled it forward and let it radiate from within - spilling from his person into the tight dark confines of the small airlock. Zaeed's suit vocabulator crackled to life at the same time as he released the dual sabres from their concealed armoured housing, the red glow highlighting the sinister engravings on Zaeed's armour, his voice hissed "Now we will discuss the nature of your connection to the Jensaarai." She shivered visibly, Zaeed thought just for a moment, before he too was engulfed with the dark visions of the coming Darkness, that perhaps all this melodrama really might work, just this once. Perhaps next time, Zaeed would be so lucky. a quiet conversation rudely interrupted and a quieter departure The visions of the future were overwhelming; Zaeed's overly dramatic interrogation is quickly ended as he, like the Jensaarai with him are enthralled. Zaeed speaks earnestly with the Jensaarai and leaves. Zaeed, prone, recovers from the visions first and sits on his haunches, being overwhelmed but able to regain his stance faster than the younger Jensaarai. The visions revealing a collection of horrible fates and more details about the strange new foe. "I already knew you weren't corrupted - fallen to the dark side, but I needed to know where Tyris was. After that vision.. doesn't seem that important anymore, really." Zaeed states flatly. The young Jensaarai woman, her cot bindings already removed, gets up on her elbows and stares. "Your skin, I don't recognize it. The markings elaborate, a master, and yet I don't know it. Who or what are you?" "Master huh? I'm no master. I'm a soldier, a warrior, maybe a barroom philosopher, ex barroom, really - as unfortunate as it is. But to answer your question, I am Jensaarai. Founded, partly, with Tyris -taken away by an explosion and the Jedi. You know him - don't pretend you don't. I've felt his presence - spent time watching him too - been haunting him. Ha. Ghosts from the past indeed, Tyris, your goddam right you've started to feel a presence you haven't in a long time; I'm back you bastard, back to get what's mine!" Zaeed stops mid-rant and looks at the horrified and quickly steeling eyes of the young warrior. "Whoa there tiger. Keep your suit cool." Zaeed removes his helmet and puts it on the floor, and rubs out his neck. With a sneer the young Jensaarai looks upon Zaeed with disgust "How dare you speak of Tyris in such a way, he has done so much for us and many others and asks so very little in return. And you, how dare you address me so personally! And you've taken my skin, and you call me tiger?!" Zaeed raises an eyebrow and laughs. "You? Tiger? Ha, good one. I was talking to myself, kitten." Zaeed lowers his head slightly as she quickly leaned forward in a punch, aimed directly at his numerous times previously broken nose, allowing her fist to break loudly and painfully on the hardest part of his skull, the upper forehead, and in the moment she reacted to the unexpected pain Zaeed sprung to his feet ready, but no lightsabre drawn. "There's a valuable lesson there you failed to appreciate young Jensaarai, and one I nearly got away from myself. Balance. The light and the dark -like a good stout with a fine head of foam, the good and bad. Balanced, together." They both relaxed student and teacher. "You've learned much young one, but not enough. Remember the lesson and the pain. Now give me your hand... I will heal it." Things get very interesting in the airlock, which for a man of Zaeed age isn't that long. Eventually they decide, together, to disembark the team on the Cruiser, coordinating a future pick-up, and make their way through a series of dead-drops and deep space connections to the Jensaarai fleet, and Tyris. Unforeseen Consequences The journey to the Jensaarai fleet is disturbingly quick, fatefully or perhaps again through some connection to the artifact, Zaeed and Tyris are brought together quickly. Zaeed and his Jensaarai companion, Asa, arrive at the Jensaarai fleet. "Really? You tell me now? You don't think that detail would have been important when we first met? I really need to figure out how that Hutt security system worked, so this drinking would actually have an effect. I thought that first piece of news was something.. but this.." Zaeed sits with Asa in the passenger compartment of a sleek unmarked Jensaarai transport that had picked them from the last dead-drop hours ago, and was even now on final approach to the dark menacing form of the Jensaarai flagship. A few empty bottles roll gently about the floor. Zaeed painfully aware his sobriety is forever after permanent. Asa sits quietly next to him looking at the floor. Zaeed sighs and rubs his cheeks thoughtfully. "Let me.. think..." Zaeed slowly slumps into his lap, his hand moving from his cheek to stroking his cropped hair slowly. "Tyris is your father, and you're pregnant. Even thought its.. you know, not been long, and we are about to meet him in" Zaeed looks at his armoured wrist, "a few minutes?" Asa looks over at Zaeed and smiles sadly. "I had many exciting and masculine plans, you know. Meeting Tyris, some kind of epic showdown, maybe some reconciliation and redemption but this. I had not thought of this. Didn't think, this, was even a possibility." Zaeed stops and smiles, stretches out and puts his hands behind his head. "Yep. Still got it. All man." This earns Zaeed very little sympathy. "I've got it. This whole force crystal thing is very important - so important, I'm pretty sure Tyris won't notice anything else. Which is good. Because we aren't going to tell him. We are going to save the galaxy, keep your father and you alive, and him -me too. After that, we tell him. Tyris and I, well, will make up. Real fast in the in-term." Zaeed reflects a moment "Yeah, I'm pretty sure they'd shoot an escape pod even if it had no lifesigns." Two old men Zaeed and Asa both aboard the Jensaarai flagship are led by a junior Jensaarai warrior through empty hallways to a grand audience chamber. At the far end of the chamber stands Nikkos Tyris, leader of the Jensaarai and admiral of a mighty fleet. Tyris and Zaeed talk. "Welcome back to the fold Zaeed Sokanova. I have been expecting you. Daughter, you will leave us." Intones Tyris while stroking his beard, wearing an elaborate if light suit of dark armour, his back turned. The silence lasts until the chamber seals and locks behind the departing Asa. "Your brothers and sisters of the Jensaarai even now are being told of your great deeds in our founding. So much time has passed so much suffering and bloodshed - and all for a single life Zaeed, that is all I ask. The head of Obi-wan Kenobi." Tyris turns and smiles and with a short bow acknowledges Zaeed formally. "Figuratively speaking, of course." The two approach each other and stand face to face, for the first in age. "I see we both bare the scars that Obi-wan Kenobi inflicted upon us. You old friend, bear them painfully upon your broken skin - lost for a time in battle and bottle, I wear them upon my soul, trapped in wildspace waiting to return. To claim vengeance. The darkness gathers and we both return from our exiles." Zaeed stands stone-faced before Tyris, clearly he was not the mad vengeful man he was expecting - nor does Nikkos Tyris suffer from corruption, he had never fallen to the dark side. Zaeed knew he founded the original teachings that led to the Jensaarai all those years ago, the musing of a Sith lord in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant but it was always Tyris who led ''people. A young Zaeed, a promising Jedi was sidelined for years by the Jedi Council because his master Asajj Ventress, and her master, Count Dooku, had both fallen to the dark side. Zaeed was left to languish because he was suspect but not guilty. He met a young Nikkos Tyris and they discussed the musing of this Sith Lord and eventually developed a new philosophy that was neither Jedi or Sith - something new, but very old. Tyris gathered followers, while Zaeed spend more time musing upon the words and spiritual philosophy of the new code. Together with their followers the self-proclaimed Jensaarai, they developed a plan to fake their deaths and journey in secrecy to a remote system to practice and train. Their dreams and small school were shattered by Obi-wan Kenobi and a small team of Jedi who believed they were wiping out a small Sith cult, which they did indiscriminately and without words - a slaughter.'' After the school founding the pupils were less interested in the philosophy of the Jensaarai and more interested in the dynamic leadership that Tyris provided, a schism developed. On the fateful day of the confrontation where Zaeed was to face down Nikkos about this divergence the Jedi struck and the dreams of the Jensaarai were shattered and brought to ash. Zaeed awoke, left for dead amongst the corpses of his friends and colleagues, even then his recuperative powers were strong, and left alone amongst the ruins. Zaeed survived and cursed the Jedi for the unending trouble they had caused. It was when Zaeed was in the outer-rim serving as a mercenary that Order 66 was issued and Zaeed went to the drink. It was only the dark visions of the last year that awoke Zaeed from his exile and brought him back to the fore, back to confront Nikkos Tyris. And there was nothing for Zaeed to change, Nikkos Tyris was on the path of Jensaarai, both Tyris and Zaeed had managed to self-correct and adjust. The scarred Zaeed Sokanova and Nikkos Tyris stare at each other for a time, reliving the paths that led them here. "It seems we both had a path that led us to this grey point, the place between the light and dark of the force, the shadows in which the Jensaarai dwell. And we both had plans to deal with the other in our ways. I'm sorry it came to this." Tyris rests his hand upon the shoulder of Zaeed. "Even now my daughter, mother of your unborn, is being taken by my agents beyond my sphere of influence. I put her in your path Zaeed, for the destiny you have already fulfilled. Much in the same way you chose to not bring the force crystal to me." A pact Zaeed Sokanova and Nikkos Tyris are at peace with each other, but great conflict still remains. Both having come to terms with their past - the future, and the gathering threat remains. Choices need to be made. The deal is sealed. "Those fool Jedi and Sith doom everyone around them, like they always have - selfishly pursing their flavour of stagnating purity at the expense of balance, order within the force. Even now this galaxy swells with discord, the power of the Sith concentrated in but a ... few and the bastard Kenobi raises an army that draws the enemy closer. The unclean force soldiers, those imbued but not chosen by the force drive our enemy into a rage. Bring me Kenobi or bring me the force crystal. Or what you didn't know you valued most, will be lost forever to you. Just as I will lose my only child." Tyris lowers his arm. "Seek the balance, brother Sokanova and depart as a father, of the Jensaarai." Quiet returns Numbed by revelations and the speech of Tyris, Zaeed says little and returns to the docking bay, escorted by the same young Jensaarai warrior back to the shuttle bay. Zaeed rejoins the team. "Mistress Asa has departed Lord Sokanova, we bring another transport to return you to your tasks. May your skin protect you from the dark and the light." The young warrior bows and departs, leaving Zaeed in the vestibule to the departure deck. Zaeed waits for a time, and eventually departs. Brought directly back to the cruiser in deep space. He has only been gone a few days, but feels a lifetime. Category:Offline